I Became A Side Character Fated To Suffer-Chapter 23:Mayhem in Cafeteria

SWOOSH!

Bang!

"Damn..Get aside.."

"Let me take.." one of the guys shouted, shoving the other aside and grabbed the loaf of bread, putting it down.

"Shut up...Its mine.."

"Fuck you, bitch. Its mine..Shut the damn up..."

Bang!

Soon a fight ensued in the whole cafeteria.

Eleanor, who entered to have her food, was frozen in terror. Before her, in rows, cadets were fighting for life..no, for food.

"What’s going on?" she asked in shock.

"Never seen hungry people, right?" a mocking tone came from behind.

Eleanor turned her head around and saw Elderic sitting on the table with a bored expression.

"What do you mean?"

Elderic didn’t answer and looked ahead.

"Commoners..."

"Most of those who came here had fought for their life for food..Hungry, unfed, unnourished, they have fought hard to survive."

"Now that they had seen such godly food, they just couldn’t contain themselves."

The tray hit the ground.

CLANG!

A piece of roasted meat slid across the cafeteria floor like a sacred relic escaping a battlefield.

Three cadets dove at it at the same time.

"MOVE—!"

"I saw it first!"

"You saw nothing, you blind bat—!"

They crashed into each other mid-air and landed in a tangled pile of limbs and uniforms.

Someone’s elbow hooked around someone’s neck.

By the time the fight lasted, somehow the meat was gone.

A fourth cadet stood up slowly behind them, chewing.

Silence.

All three heads turned.

He swallowed.

"...What?" he asked carefully.

"You—"

"You ate it?"

"You ATE it?!"

He raised his hands defensively. "Listen, I haven’t tasted protein since I was nine. My body acted on instinct."

A tray flew.

SMACK!

Across the cafeteria, a girl clutched a loaf of bread to her chest like it was a newborn child.

"Stay back!" she screamed. "I have siblings! I know how to defend rations!"

A tall cadet lunged.

She headbutted him.

THUD.

He staggered back, holding his nose. "You fight like a demon!"

"I grew up with five brothers," she replied proudly, stuffing bread into her uniform pocket. "You think you scare me?"

Meanwhile, near the stew counter—

Two cadets were locked in a tug-of-war with a single ladle.

"Let go!"

"You let go!"

"You already had half a scoop!"

"That was air! I scooped air!"

A third one leaned over the pot and whispered solemnly, "Brothers... if we tilt the pot slightly, gravity will choose its favorite."

All three paused.

They looked at the pot.

They looked at each other.

Then simultaneously—

"FOR SURVIVAL!"

The pot tipped.

Stew splashed everywhere.

A cadet slipped in it and slid across the floor.

"I REGRET NOTHING—!"

He crashed into a table.

CRACK.

Somewhere in the chaos—

A skinny boy clung to a chicken leg while another cadet dangled from his waist, trying to pry it loose.

"Let go!"

"I can see my ancestors!" the skinny one cried dramatically. "They’re telling me to protect the drumstick!"

"You’re hallucinating!"

"That’s how hungry I am!"

Nearby, two cadets had stopped fighting entirely and were calmly eating under a table.

One chewed thoughtfully. "You know... this is the most peaceful place here."

The other nodded. "Yeah. When the war ends, we’ll tell stories."

A body rolled past them.

"Duck!" one said casually.

They leaned slightly as someone flew overhead.

Back near the bread rack—

A cadet raised both hands.

"Listen! We can share like civilized people!"

Everyone froze.

Hope flickered.

He continued, "We cut it equally."

"...That sounds reasonable."

"Yes..."

He grinned.

"And the strongest gets the biggest share."

Silence.

Then—

"GET HIM!"

He ran.

Chairs toppled.

Someone used a tray as a shield.

CLANG! CLANG!

A cadet bit into a raw carrot and muttered through crunching, "At least it’s not tree bark."

Another replied while wrestling someone twice his size, "Speak for yourself. I once boiled my belt."

"You’re lying."

"It was leather!"

Across the hall, a boy held up a single grape triumphantly.

"I HAVE CLAIMED WEALTH!"

A hand snatched it.

He stared at his empty fingers.

"...This world is cruel."

Two girls locked eyes over the last slice of pie.

Slowly... they both reached.

One whispered darkly, "If we die today... tell my mother...

"What..You even have a mother?"

"What’s so special about it? Everyone has it?"

"But I don’t.She ran away with her lover and dumped me."

"..."

A pause lingered following which people pounced.

The cafeteria had fully descended into chaos.

Stew on the walls.

Bread crumbs in hair.

A chair missing a leg.

Someone dramatically crawling toward a fallen apple like a soldier in war.

"Don’t leave me—!" he croaked, stretching out his hand.

Another stepped over him and picked it up.

"Thank you for locating it."

And above it all—

Half-starved cadets fighting like maniacs as they wrestled, slipped, and fought over crumbs.

"STOP CHOKING ME!"

"LET GO OF MY SOCK!"

"THAT’S NOT FOOD—!"

"IT COULD BE!"

And somewhere in the mess—

Seeing the scale of war, Eleanor and Elderic literally froze in fear.

War...

Who knew the first day line for food would turn into a mass world war.

"Where are the staff?" Eleanor asked in horror.

"Ohh..Staff...They are hiding, betting on their lives.." Elderic pointed at a corner where Eleanor saw a few heads sprouting out from the edge and looking at them as if looking at some animals trapped in a zoo, at whom a meat pie was thrown.

Before war could develop into a world war... no, an academy war, an icy voice echoed.

"STOPPP!"

BOOOOOM!

The entire cafeteria trembled violently. Frost exploded across the walls, tables, trays, and even half-eaten bread mid-air.

A cadet who was biting into a bun froze with it still hanging from his mouth.

The floor crystallized.

Stew droplets froze like decorative chandeliers.

As the icy mist dispersed, and through it a figure walked.

She was tall, short bluish hair swaying slightly.

Reddish eyes sharp like blades.

A suffocating killing intent wrapped around her presence, making everyone’s spine stiffen.

Over her chest, a crown insignia gleamed coldly.

That symbolised her status of Queen.

She stepped forward and the temperature dropped another degree.

"It is literally the first day in your academy, and you have already taken it over your head."

"I just came back after a month-long mission... and this is the state I find myself in."

"Thankfully I passed through the first year dorms, I wouldn’t know what the state it is in."

Her gaze slowly scanned the chaos.

Frozen cadets tangled together.

One boy frozen mid-kick.

Another frozen upside down.

One still clinging to a chicken leg like a sacred treasure.

"GUARDS... WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Several figures materialized instantly.

"But Miss Preside.. I mean Miss Freya..." one guard coughed nervously, slipping slightly on frozen stew. "Overseeing discipline on the first day is the work of the First Year King..."

"King?" Her red eyes sharpened. "Who is your King?"

A cadet, still frozen from the waist down, tried to raise his hand.

"Technically—"

CRACK.

Ice sealed his mouth again.

She narrowed her eyes.

"Why is no one speaking?"

"Miss..." a guard whispered awkwardly, "They are frozen."

"..."

She blinked once.

Then—

STOMP!

A shockwave blasted outward.

CRASH!

Ice shattered everywhere.

Cadets collapsed onto the floor in dramatic heaps.

One slid across the frozen surface and bumped into a table.

Another rolled and landed flat on his back.

Someone screamed, "I CAN FEEL MY TOES AGAIN!"

The woman ignored them.

"Who is your King and where the hell is he?"

A nervous voice rose from somewhere beneath a pile of chairs.

"It’s Noel De Nova..."

Her expression shifted slightly at the name.

"And where is he?"

Silence.

A cadet slowly stood up, brushing frost from his hair.

"We... we don’t know where he is..."

Another muttered loudly from the side, "Probably too scared to meet.. What more can you expect from a faker."

A few snickers.

The woman’s aura intensified.

The air cracked.

Someone else spoke sarcastically, whisper-loud enough to be heard.

"And what does that mean?"

"Must be afraid of getting beaten by us, so he’s hiding."

"Yeah! That’s what happens when you get through backdo—"

SNAP.

Her fingers snapped sharply.

Every mouth in the cafeteria sealed shut instantly.

One cadet clutched his face in horror.

"Mmmph! MMMMPH?!"

Another tried to shout but only produced muffled squeaks.

The woman stared coldly at them.

"Shut up. You aren’t even ranked in the top 100, yet you speak so highly."

A cadet frantically pointed at himself and gave a thumbs-down gesture, as if saying fair enough.

Another raised both hands defensively and mouthed silently:

I was talking about someone else.

One skinny boy still holding the chicken leg tried to hide it behind his back.

She looked at him and then clicked her tongue, wondering from where the hell did this cartoon come back.

"Someone call that guy and you all.."

Her eyes literally glowed, making them feel that the next moment a laser might shoot at them if they dared to take a wrong step.

"Don’t take me as an idiot.. I know why you are doing it...

"You are trying to cause trouble for King because you hate it however don’t be overly confident in your petty little tricks, or else one day you gonna be folded badly."